Those seeking the great mother beyond the household
Symbols
LionCymbalsPine coneMountainDrum
Mythology Summary
Cybele is the Anatolian Great Mother adopted at Rome as Magna Mater, whose ecstatic rites were led by the galli and whose consort Attis castrated himself beneath a pine. She is the mountain and the wild, older and larger than the civic gods, and her worship at Rome was both official and frightening.
Modern Practice
Cybele is called on for the mother beyond the household, for the healing of a great loss, and for the courage to belong to something wilder than custom. Her rites are loud and her demand is total, which is why she is approached deliberately rather than casually.